The present invention relates to a method of initiating a security procedure within a building controlling access to restricted areas.
Modem buildings, especially complex buildings, today have a comprehensive infrastructure such as, for example, doors in the entrance area and if necessary, on each floor, with electronic access control, turnstiles with electronic access control, and elevator installations which are also equipped with access monitoring.
If a person in this building suddenly needs the urgent assistance of a physician, a sequence of procedures must be performed without hindrances occurring. Firstly, the person who needs assistance must communicate to another person that he/she needs assistance and to what extent. This other person must then inform the emergency physician and ensure that the building personnel know of the emergency physician's visit, receive the emergency physician, allow him/her through the safety barriers in the building, and guide the emergency physician to the respective floor and into the respective room in the building where the person requiring assistance is located. As well as this, the building personnel must be comprehensively and correctly informed and instructed. Inadvertently incorrect information can have fatal consequences. Furthermore, the emergency physician must be able to reach the person requiring assistance as quickly as possible. This requires a high administrative outlay, and the personnel must be comprehensively trained.
A further case can be that an order is placed by a person working in the building, or a resident of the building. For some reason or other, however, this person or the resident cannot take delivery of the goods or services themselves. The person or resident must therefore actively arrange that the goods or service which have been ordered can also be received. As a rule, this can be done by the person or resident instructing another person, who then takes on this task for them. If no such person is available, or if there is a misunderstanding, the ordered goods or service cannot be received, which can again have corresponding consequences.
If a building cleaning service has to clean and care for certain parts of the building at certain times, the cleaning personnel must be given corresponding rights of entry. This is generally done by handing to the cleaning personnel one or more mechanical keys which are not able to unlock certain doors. When this is done, there is no guarantee that the person who has possession of this key is also a member of the cleaning personnel. There is a further problem in that if the key is lost, substantial damage can occur. In this situation misuse cannot be ruled out.
If a resident of the building expects several guests, he must provide each individual visitor who reports to reception with access to the building and if necessary, each time anew give a description of the way to find him in the building. Under certain circumstances this can be quite tedious.
If in the building or in an apartment of the building a one-time or rarely repeating service is performed, authorization of access for the service personnel can only be arranged with high administrative outlay. Either a person must accompany the service personnel, or a mechanical key must be made available for the service personnel, which requires a certain amount of trust in advance and increases the danger of misuse.